How rich were the Maharajas before Independence! Cars of the Maharajas

How rich were the Maharajas before Independence! Cars of the Maharajas

This is a discussion on How rich were the Maharajas before Independence! Cars of the Maharajas within Pre-War, part of the Vintage Cars & Classics in India category; Some interesting deatails and pictures of the Idar Farman. The car is said to be one of four Farmans in ...

After producing biplanes and launching a sucessful aviation company, the Farman brothers entered the car business as a manufacturer in 1919. They also operated one of the largest garages in Paris and contested many city to city races which helped when they had to market their own designs.
The first Farman was called the A6 and focused on luxury as well as the high standards set for aircraft manufacturing. This meant the finish was kept to very high grade and included high quality materials such as aluminum.
The A6 was initially previewed at the 1919 Paris Auto Salon. It was powered by a complex 6-liter six-cylinder engine that used separate steel cylinders surrounded by a steel water jacket and an overhead camshaft. Later, Alpax alloy cylinder blocks were offered on the Super Sport model.
Deciding “to make an automobile absolutely perfect in every detail” the Farman was expensive and used much aluminum. Construction of the chassis details were limited to steel stampings and forged alloy instead of crude iron castings. It was sold as a direct rival to Hispano-Suiza and gained an edge with its 4-speed tranmission.
Flaunted on the Champs Elysées, the Farman A6 attracted clientele such as film star Pearl White, the Shah of Persia, the Sultan of Morocco and World War One air pilot Charles Nungesser. Many of these owners purchased bodywork from the established coachbuilders of Paris, so no two Farmans looked alike. However, they all shared the same radiator and its mascot, a tribute to of Alberto Santos-Dumont who flew self-made aircraft.
By 1921, Farman upgraded the A6 into the A6B which had improvements such as power-assited brakes on all four wheels. This was upgraded again to meet the demands of large bodies and the more powerful 7.1-litre NF model was launched in 1927.

Bonhams sale of Chassis no. 428.

At their Automobiles d'Exception on 9 Feb 2008 at the Retromobile Salon our feature metallic silver A6B Super Sport Torpedo failed to meet its reserve with an estimate of €500,000 to 600,000. Below are some excerpts of the auction sale:
“confirmed by his great-nephew, automotive historian Manvendra Singh, this particular Farman Super Sport originally belonged to Lieutenant-Colonel HH Maharaja Sir Daulat Singh, the hereditary ruler of the Indian princely state of Idar, and is well remembered by members of his family. It is understood that the Maharaja used his Farman for tiger hunting as well as touring, and later presented the car to his brother’s father-in-law HH Maharaja Sir Bhom Pal, the ruler of the princely state of Karauli, in neighbouring Rajasthan.
The car was discovered, “somewhat derelict but intact”, in the garages of the Karauli Palace in 1967 by Rolls-Royce authority John Fasal during one of his many trips to India at the period. Its odometer recorded a mere 10,802 miles. Fasal was able to acquire the car along with a pair of 20-hp Rolls-Royces, though plans to ship the cars to Europe from Bombay took several years to materialise.
Soon after its return to Europe, the Farman was acquired by that noted connoisseur Wolfgang Gawor, who undertook an extensive restoration […] It has since been shown at the Meadowbrook and Amelia Island concours d’elegance.”

One of the more unusual cars was a Lancia Dilambda (1929) made to special order for the Maharajah of Mysore in India. It's a long wheelbase with a 4l v8 monoblock engine that develops 31.2hp (100BHP), top speed is around 80mph. It can seat 6 with ease with coachwork is by Violetta in Italy.
A rather interesting history from being imported into India in 1930 it was used by the Maharajah until the war when it passed to an Indian general Shia Bhatia. It was used in vintage car rallies in the sixties. An English doctor brought it to the UK and it is now owned by his widow. Very imposing and stately ride.

This car is seen with the correct rims as provided by the company. This care is very similar to the Ruia car entered in the Cartier event.

Some interesting deatails and pictures of the Idar Farman. The car is said to be one of four Farmans in existance and this is also the only Farman in US and also the only privately owned Farman.

Farmans are really rare in the world. Two were in the Schlumpf Museum. I believe that one more surfaced somewhere in Australia or so and they were searching for an engine.
But what is interesting is how did the Farman leave India? It was bought by Mr. Fasal, it was lying in Mumbai Byculla for many years well into the period the export ban was in place, and though lying in India the news of its imminent sale had come from UK. And what happened to the 20HP RR's which were bought by the same gentleman? Some food for thought.
I removed the long quote to shorten this post.
I believe that this Farman was also with Bharatpur for some time.

A rather interesting history from being imported into India in 1930 it was used by the Maharajah until the war when it passed to an Indian general Shia Bhatia. It was used in vintage car rallies in the sixties. An English doctor brought it to the UK and it is now owned by his widow. Very imposing and stately ride.

This car is seen with the correct rims as provided by the company. This care is very similar to the Ruia car entered in the Cartier event.

This could be the answer to a long time querry of mine. In some articles I had read that a Professor Moore was in Delhi and that he was active in the vintage car movement at that time, probably pre 1965. He was associated with vintage car enthusiasts. The Maharaja of Tirwa was also associated with this group. And Prof. Moore had a Lancia Dilambda which he had saved. Perhaps someone can recall him. I had seen a picture of him with his car participating in a meet in Delhi. Probably this was before The Statesman events.
Also, in the days of old, when a Dr. was highly qualified he was also referred to as a professor.

in that case please refer to post #166 of this thread,where i did just that, and some of the most vital contributors of this thread agreed with me.
And also #13 of team BHP rules, posted by you on 2nd May 2005.
its strange that you deleted just my post, in which i asked the mods to delete all posts provoking a political debate, yet you kept the posts to which i simply reacted, albeit a bit harshly...

I agree with Awini totally.In this thread I've come across plenty of posts which are abusive towards the maharajas and their families and unfortunately, very unfortunately many haven't got their history right.Yet when I tried to protest by expressing my opinion and I was not in the least bit abusive,my post was deleted! I was just attempting to defend a class of people who were being abused perhaps unjustly to an extent. I could discuss in detail the contributions of the maharajas but I suppose there's no point as this post too will get deleted on the context of having abused some people who've been abusive themselves.If anybody is interested in reading abusive posts, I can quote excerpts of many posts that I have come across.

Wasif, thank you for the great articles you are sharing here. However all these vehicles have been featured before either in this thread or elsewhere, do check first in detail before posting the same car again. It is a tedious process

Wasif, you've done a great job by sharing these articles with all of us and please don't be intimidated by the prospect of doing an elaborate research on whether any mention of any of these cars have been made in this thread or elsewhere.Many of us ignorant types would rather risk repetition than miss out on such excellent stuff (which you've posted) Whenever you come across such sterling stuff,please share with us by either copying and pasting the article or providing a link.How you do it, is I believe your prerogative.

Last edited by Technocrat : 31st March 2009 at 18:35.
Reason: fixed quote

The unusual feature I se on this car is the underbody tray, painted orange on this car.

Its addition makes the car body very low. This would have proved a problem in India where the roads were not too good and often there would be a hump in the center of the roads.

What do you think is the reason for this feature ?

The Idar Farman was a Super Sport "Torpedo" hence the design. One gentleman who knew a bit about this car told me that the design was specifically asked so as to save the very costly body and internals of this car in the rough terrain in India.

I am not sure how much is true but the torpedo part seems true. That gentleman would like to stay annonymous.

I think that it was already mentioned in the thread earlier, presently there are only two prewar Wraiths (without silver) known in India, both sedan, one belongs to Vijay Mallya and the other is the golden one in Mumbai, Parsi owned.

I saw this well known Caddy of the Rajasthan Government in a recent magazine article. I don't think we have photos of it on the forum do we? I believe it is still in possession of the Government? Heartening to see it still in good nick.